Please select/choose your book using the rectangular buttons shown - where appropriate the title, the price, the SKU will alter automatically. The focus of the book is the criminal - rather than the civil - justice system and all those connected with it from judges and magistrates to the court staff and the defendants themselves, not to mention the state of most of the court buildings some growing old gracefully, others positively decrepit. How can you defend a child-abuser you suspect to be guilty? What do you say to someone sentenced to ten years who you believe to be innocent? What is the law and why do we need it? And why do they wear those stupid wigs?įrom the criminals to the lawyers, the victims, witnesses and officers of the law, here is the best and worst of humanity, all struggling within a broken system which would never be off the front pages if the public knew what it was really like.īoth a searing first-hand account of the human cost of the criminal justice system, and a guide to how we got into this mess, The Secret Barrister wants to show you what it's really like and why it really matters. They are sometimes funny, often moving and ultimately life-changing.

These are the stories of life inside the courtroom. Welcome to the world of The Secret Barrister. 'I'm a barrister, a job which requires the skills of a social worker, relationship counsellor, arm-twister, hostage negotiator, named driver, bus fare-provider, accountant, suicide watchman, coffee-supplier, surrogate parent and, on one memorable occasion, whatever the official term is for someone tasked with breaking the news to a prisoner that his girlfriend has been diagnosed with gonorrhoea.'

Shortlisted for Specsavers Non-Fiction Book of the Year. Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year. Winner of the Books are My Bag Non-Fiction Award.

The secret barrister book review